Last Saturday, I returned to a great spot on the Vermilion Lakes near Banff. This enclave, part of the third lake can only be described as photo-rich, winter and summer. I went with friend and neighbour, Stewart Hamilton and we put in a couple of very enjoyable hours, looking for those special shots this area has to offer.
In today’s post, I include only two, beginning with a wider angle view that puts the foreground pond in its context of the surrounding mountains of Banff National Park. You can see the bottom of the shallow pond through the crystal clear water. The area is littered with the remains of dead trees which make great photo subjects, lots of texture and character. I was even able to find and include some yellow poppies on the edge of the pond. The scene is backgrounded by peaks of the Sundance Range to the right and the western slope of Sulphur Mountain to the left.
My second choice for today is a close-up view of a row of stumps just to the left of where I took the above picture. I wanted to maximize the depth-of-field to get all the stumps as well as Sulphur Mountain in focus. I used a 24 mm Canon tilt-shift lens to make it happen. As you can see, the mountain in the background is just as sharply focused as the blades of grass in the foreground.
We had great weather and we were pleased to get into the area which, a week earlier had been closed by Parks Canada due to a grizzly bear fishing in the pond. She had moved on by the time we reached the area. There was no sign of fish remaining in the pond, but there was evidence of her earlier presence, fish scales on some of the logs which she had apparently used as dining tables. Follow this link to a video produced by Parks Canada, showing the bear at work…https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ykuPYvhPMfA&index=1&list=PL7ABD4B2249F753EB
Very nice images, Peter. Excellent clarity. Fine compositions. Of course, I always enjoy your written descriptions; well-phrased and informative.